Data on Bayer HealthCare's Florbetaben PET Tracer to Be Presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease 2010

WAYNE, N.J., July 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that data on the company's investigational PET amyloid imaging tracer Florbetaben (BAY 94-9172) will be presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease (Alzheimer's Association ICAD) 2010 in Honolulu July 10 – 15.  

The Florbetaben data will be presented in two oral presentations and in a poster presentation during the official Alzheimer's Association ICAD scientific program, as well as in four poster presentations during the Alzheimer's Imaging Consortium (AIC) preconference, for which Bayer is a co-sponsor. The AIC will bring together the world's leading imaging and non-imaging researchers to focus on the clinical application and methodological development of neuroimaging to Alzheimer's disease, other dementias and normal brain aging.

"At Bayer, we are committed to investing in molecular imaging research to help improve the overall quality of diagnosis and patient care," said Barbara Putz, MD, Head of Global Clinical Development, Molecular Imaging, Bayer.  "We are pleased that data on Florbetaben will be the focus of several presentations during this year's ICAD meeting."

The Florbetaben data being presented at the Alzheimer's Association ICAD 2010 are:

SATURDAY, JULY 10, 2010, Alzheimer's Imaging Consortium

IC-P – Imaging Posters Session

11:15 AM – 1:15 PM, 313-C

• IC-P-059 — Assessment of ABeta deposition in mild cognitive impairment with 18F-Florbetaben.    Kevin Ong et al.

• IC-P-119 — A model-based approach to improve intra-individual comparison of clustered amyloid-beta brain PET imaging data: Accounting for overlapping imaging time windows.     Florian Hiemeyer et al.

• IC-P-121 — Inter-ethnic comparability of pharmacokinetics of Florbetaben (BAY 94-9172), a beta-amyloid imaging PET agent, as a basis of global development of a diagnostics for Alzheimer's disease.    Michio Senda et al.

• IC-P-126 — Objective SUVr Determination using MRI Segmentation Maps in Florbetaben beta-amyloid Brain PET Improves Discrimination of Alzheimer's and Controls.    John Seibyl et al.

SUNDAY, JULY 11, 2010, Oral Session O1-02 -- Advances in PET Amyloid Imaging    

1:00 - 3:00 PM, Hall 1

• No. 01-02-01 — Florbetaben for beta-amyloid brain PET in Alzheimer disease - Results of a multicentre phase 2 trial.    Osama Sabri et al.

• No. 01-02-02 — 18F-Florbetaben-PET imaging in the differential diagnosis of dementia.    Victor L. Villemagne et al.

MONDAY, JULY 12, 2010, Poster Session P2 -- Monday Posters  

11:30 AM - 1:00 PM, Exhibit Hall

• No. P2-402 — Influence of ethnic group, age, gender, and tracer mass dose on florbetaben beta-amyloid brain PET results in elderly normal controls. Henryk Barthel et al.

About Florbetaben (BAY 94-9172)

Florbetaben is an in-licensed 18F-labeled PET tracer that is currently being investigated for imaging of cerebral beta-amyloid plaques, which are one of the pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease.  At present, diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease is based on cognitive tests that can only indicate a probability of having the disease.  A definitive diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease is only possible through a post-mortem autopsy or brain tissue biopsy.  As the aggregation of the beta-amyloid protein in the brain is also a key target for new therapeutic treatments under development for Alzheimer's disease, Florbetaben might also be able to support the development of these new treatment approaches.  An international Phase III study of Florbetaben (BAY 94-9172) PET imaging for detection/exclusion of cerebral beta-amyloid compared to histopathology is currently underway.  

About Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals Inc. is the U.S.-based pharmaceuticals operation of Bayer HealthCare, an affiliate of Bayer AG.  One of the world's leading, innovative companies in the healthcare and medical products industry, Bayer HealthCare combines the global activities of the Animal Health, Consumer Care, Diabetes Care, and Pharmaceuticals divisions. In the United States, Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals comprises the following business units: Women's Healthcare, Diagnostic Imaging, General Medicine, Hematology/Neurology, and Oncology.  The company's aim is to discover and manufacture products that will improve human health worldwide by diagnosing, preventing and treating diseases.

This news release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer Group or subgroup management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in Bayer's public reports which are available on the Bayer website at www.bayer.com. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.

SOURCE Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals